Trouble is...when my mind's empty, I simply don't know what to do. That's okay for a while, but life must go on and, seriously, I cannot think of a single one of the thousand and seven tasks which really need to be completed...

You know To Do Lists? Well, they're usually for when you have so much to do you don't even know where to start, aren't they?

I'm thinking that when my mind's NOT empty, I'll have to write a To Do List of things I could be getting on with when my mind IS empty.

Thursday, 30 May 2013

What's the use of having a reputation if you can't ruin it every now and then? - says Simone Elkeles

I hate making mistakes, but...

I made a mistake yesterday - a LITTLE mistake of using my initiative which backfired, resulting in a slightly annoyed client and a gentle admonition in an email - completely deserved.

I went straight into self-flagellation mode.

www.creativeawards.com

All the usual thoughts went through my mind. I'm such an idiot. I feel SO embarrassed. What must she think of me? How can I make it better? Shall I phone Interflora and send a bunch of flowers? (Ridiculous over compensation!) Geez, what if she drops me? Hyperventilate, hyperventilate.

Justification, justification. Well, I was only trying to be helpful. At least my upset shows I care...

(Wrong on both counts, at least in part. I was trying to prove I can do everything by myself, which sometimes isn't possible. And, while I DO care, some part of that is caring about ME looking bad.)

Come on Caroline. Let's be rational about this.

The sky didn't fall in.

I admitted what I'd done immediately and took full responsibility for my actions.

I apologised in writing.

I won't make the same mistake again.

I tried to console myself by remembering all those wise words people say, like 'Mistakes are the stepping stones to discovery,' If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything.'

Didn't help.

Ridiculous woman, me. Wasted an hour or so worrying and unable to produce any worthwhile work.

The very, very BEST thing I could have done? Acknowledged it, accepted responsibility, forgiven myself and said 'This is what I'm doing now...'

Today, on Shooting People's screenwriters forum - a big post about the very same thing, called 'Plagiarism is alive and well' linked here for your reference - albeit advertising the services of a script registration service called The Script Vault - which seems very reasonable in price, if that's what you want to do.

So - to try it out, I put an alert for my screenplay 'The Melting' - using those exact words. I get almost daily alerts. You'd be surprised how much I know about global warming and only slightly annoyed by a chain of restaurants in the US called 'The Melting Pot' - but it's effective. Puts my mind at rest. I feel in control.

I also put in an alert using name of one of the characters in The Melting - a mutant snowflake (don't ask!) called Pekka Pekkanen, a name that I made up. THAT will be a test, I thought.

Imagine my surprise, the other day, when I got an alert for Pekka Pekkanen, about a year after I'd created the alert and forgotten I'd done it! MY HEART LURCHED...

There is actually someone in real life called Pekka Pekkanen who just opened an account on Facebook! I've yet to find out whether or not he or she is a mutant snowflake...

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

Thanks to Toba Beta for the first part of the quote. (See, I DO TRY to acknowledge every single person from whom I borrow (steal?) words and images for this blog.)

I put links to the artists' or writers' websites, where possible, hoping that it will generate more interest and traffic for them - leading to purchases? If I don't put links, it means the work is unattributed.

By the way, forget that urban myth that you can prove ownership by sealing it up in an envelope and posting it to yourself.

"As the copy you post remains in your possession, the other party can
easily show that you had ample opportunity to tamper with the contents,
and of course once opened it could not be used as evidence in any future
claim or appeal."(The UK Copyright Service)

Counter-intuitively, the very best way to ensure that your work isn't used without your permission is to post it in as many places as possible. That way, the ownership and date it was written is very visible and verifiable.

memegenerator.net

Actually, I should re-phrase that - the best way to ensure that if your work IS used without your permission you are more likely to find out about it and be able to do something about it is to post it in as many places as possible.

A number of screenplays I know of, written by friends of mine, have been used without their consent and appeared elsewhere on the internet, either as screenplays with the author's name changed or as completed films on YouTube. Not the end of the world, but seriously annoying and unnecessary.

The crazy thing is that if 'the thief' had only emailed the writer, permission would almost certainly be granted without a second thought! Writers are invariably delighted to know their work has met with approval.

Tomorrow's blog - a brilliant tip which allows you to keep track of your work online, thought up by Techie-Meister Tim Coxon, Number One Son, of whom I am so proud. It really works!

Friday, 24 May 2013

nor one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.

Who said that? Aristotle said that.

I could talk about the weather. This morning, (IT'S NEARLY JUNE) my hands were so cold riding Alfie De Horse that I wandered round the school looking for someone, anyone who could lend me a pair of gloves. Yet, a few weeks ago, we were taunted with beach and bikini weather. (We in general, I mean - Alfie De Horse wouldn't be seen dead in a bikini)

I was more thinking about things going well with work, with life. So I relax, take my foot off the desperate pedal, think I've DEFINITELY turned a corner...

Far too soon.

While I'm all for optimism, there's also a place for a healthy dose of realism.

Thursday, 23 May 2013

Quotation from BAD BOY, Jarod Kintz (A zebra is the piano of the animal kingdom)

Bad but funny.

Working from home, being part of a team doesn't come so easily.

Talking to inanimate objects does.

Must try harder to meet real live people. Last night I went networking - at the Uckfield Chamber of Commerce meeting, held, rather wonderfully, at Ashdown Forest Llama Park (I didn't enquire too deeply into the ingredients of the tagine we were treated to later in the evening.)

I had to give a little talk about Quirkyworks my company...my company which is ME! My message was 'Let me revitalise your website and your marketing copy'

(Trepidation)

I thought I ought to give out business cards and wanted to be a bit different.

(Fear of being too gimmicky)

Well, I don't think people will forget me...
Look, I have crazy hair and my company name is Quirkyworks, so I could get away with it. I wouldn't recommend it as a tactic for Dull-Boring &Sons accountants, though.

And what a delightful group of people they are at Uckfield Chamber of Commerce.

It felt good to be part of something and I hope I can be a contribution.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Quite good at getting down to writing, brilliant at avoiding marketing and self-publicising - aside from blogging, that is. If that counts.

In my most humble opinion, there is procrastination and there is procrastination.

Now THAT, above, is procrastination.

MY sort of procrastination is High Class Procrastination - that is to say, it's not sharpening pencils, tidying my desk, spending too long on Facebook and Google+, generally hanging out.

My sort of procrastination is having something to do that I don't want to do (re-reading and sending off my novel to publishers) and then getting in a piece of work from a client with a tight deadline AND BEING RELIEVED.

Now, NOBODY should be able to accuse me of procrastination because this is a job that must be done.

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

These were the actual circumstances: I COMPLETED MY TAX RETURNS for April 2012-2013. The final deadline to do this is January 31st, 2014. That meant I'd done it TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY SIX DAYS EARLY.

My accountant will pass out with shock.

The delusion, the warping of actual circumstances into something different: That I was virtuous to complete my tax returns.

I became VERRRRRRRY self-congratulatory and smug.

Only later did I admit to myself that the only reason I had done it was to avoid doing something else.

How can it be that completing tax returns is preferable to reading through Of Night And Light, my novel, as preparation for sending it out to a new set of publishers, carefully researched and selected by me over the weekend?

Monday, 20 May 2013

I bet you Swami Sivananda didn't think about this as a way of gaining and retaining clients for copywriting! Whatever - it's a great philosophy for life as well as work.

Now I'm puzzling about how to write this blog without it sounding as though I'm bragging.

Modesty, one of my many great attributes...

Oh, I'll just tell you - I AM NOT BRAGGING - simply offering what has worked for me as a copywriter.

Two new clients, limited budgets.

One asked me to edit a nine page document in two hours - which, possibly, I could have done, very scantily, very badly. (It needed a lot of TLC.)

However, I don't DO bad, scanty jobs. It's my pride, not to mention my reputation as a copywriter.

I negotiated an extra two hours. It STILL took me a lot longer - maybe another two hours on top of that. (By the way, I'm NOT a slow worker - this just needed facts checking, more creative input, amending, re-formatting, careful consideration of the target market to get the tone just right, page numbers, indexing ...)

I'm only charging for the four hours. It's a conscious gesture of goodwill, NOT borne out of desperation to appease clients at all costs and work for peanuts so I hang on to them...and then get resentful.

On the pragmatic side - the company has a better chance of succeeding if the online copy is as good as it can be. This may translate into more work for me.

The other client, presumably thinking about his budget, didn't ask me to proofread the website as I had suggested after I'd provided the copy. I did it anyway. There was a blooper on the landing page, which I mentioned to him.

I just received an email which simply said 'Thank God for you :)'

I think, if more work ever comes up for that client, I might stand a fairly good chance of getting the commission!

Sunday, 19 May 2013

He is so right - to receive a personal letter is just one of the best things...

...and I am as guilty as the next person of not writing letters any more, so why on earth would I expect to receive any?

Checking the post box has no thrill for me at all. It's always full of piles of junk-mail, bills and the occasional (impersonal) order from Amazon...

Today, I'm looking at a pile of unopened mail about nine inches high that I'm steeling myself to deal with - and dealing with will mostly equal 'shove into the recycling bin' which only makes me feel marginally better.

I'm pretty good at sending cards...but not at writing letters. Most people in my circle of friends...well, I don't even know their postal address, only their email address.

I WILL write a letter to someone. It's inauthentic of me to say 'I simply don't have the time.'

Friday, 17 May 2013

With thanks, and slight apologies for changing a couple of words, to Philip Dusenberry, American advertising executive.

Ransom notes! A gap in the market? I shall start a kidnapper client database immediately...

Copywriting profitable? Yes, if you charge fairly (fairly to yourself, I mean!) and have enough clients. As far as clients go, word of mouth has done well for me. I could still do with more, but I'm working on that.

It seems to get like that when I have a decision to make about what to do next with my novel Of Night And Light - highly rated by two literary consultants, with some ideas for further amendments if I choose to incorporate them.

Choices:

Make amendments (or not) and whizz it off for a final review by the literary consultants - costs a lot, may not lead anywhere further.

Keep sending it out to publishers and agents - is wearing, time-consuming and often dispiriting

Self-publish - costs a lot and a tiny bit of me can't help wanting it to be published in the conventional way.

Tuesday, 14 May 2013

I DO have a room of my own - lucky me. I used to have my office in the bedroom. How easy it was to shut off thoughts about work with my computer JUST THERE every time I opened my eyes!

So now I have an office, formerly known as Pete's office but who needs an office when you have a laptop? I tell him. He remains unconvinced. When it was HIS office it used to be SO TIDY...

Money? I wonder if Virginia Woolf meant that the money must be her own as well as the room? Certainly, it's better for feelings of self-worth that I do earn money, even if a tiny fraction of Pete's salary.

It's hardly me, is it? IS IT?

But anyway...I do have money (even if invoicing clients is not a strong point - see tomorrow's blog)

SO - I have a room of my own and I have money...and I am a woman. At least I was the last time I checked.

Monday, 13 May 2013

Yesterday - a happy surprise. A very, VERY happy surprise. Someone called Lisa Agosti...someone I don't know (it makes a difference, you see!)...posted that she'd nominated me for a Sunshine Award for my blog - see her full post here, in the comments section (Modesty does not permit...)

So - someone I don't know nominated my blog for an award I didn't even know existed! How cool is that?

Thank you so much, Lisa - and for the contribution to writing you make with your blog The Bank Of Storytellers - bursting with prompts for stuck authors. And I, for one, get stuck A LOT!

So - now I have to carry out a few tasks:

Answer questions (for some reason) - first translating them into English from American. That is to say, adding a U everytime it's been omitted - vis 'favorite color'

Favourite Colour? My hairFavourite animal? I can't answer this question because I love all animals (except perhaps stick insects)Favourite number? Any that I don't have to use in a calculation.

Favourite nonalcoholic drink? Fentimans Ginger Beer. Other ginger beers are available (but aren't as good as Fentimans)

Favourite alcoholic drink? After our recent holiday, it has to be a Mojito.

Facebook or Twitter? Facebook - I have friends across the world on there - many of whom I've never met but they're precious to me. Please add Google+ though.